2015-02-02 The Paris Commune (1871)
=========================
"Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune"
French women did not gain the right to vote until after World War II (British women, by contrast, received suffrage after World War I). Parisian militant women were more concerned with economic and social reforms than achieving the right to vote - Louise Michel said this herself. She was sentenced to be sent to New Caladonia, and returned to France a good many years later. Having seen state terrorism up close, she became an anarchist, and later led the first May Day marches in France. The participation of women in the Paris Commune would remain in the collective memory of the French left.
...
An exact "body count" is not possible, as bodies were covered with lime, tossed into the river,, or were in burning buildings. The best estimate would be somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000. That’s lots of people, considerably more than the sixty-four (64) hostages who perished at the hands of the Communards.
...
During the summary executions, people were killed for being whom they were, or after "trials" of 10 or 15 seconds before Court Martials at Parc Monceau, Châtelet, or the Jardins de Luxembourg, executed, because they had working-class accents from the plebeian neighborhoods of Paris (especially Montmartre, Belleville, Ménilmontant, Charonne, etc.), or because they were foreigners (particularly Poles, a good many of whom fought for the Commune), or because they had the rough hands of work, or because they called some Versaillais officer "tu," the familiar form, or "citoyen," - citizen.
=========================
"Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune"
French women did not gain the right to vote until after World War II (British women, by contrast, received suffrage after World War I). Parisian militant women were more concerned with economic and social reforms than achieving the right to vote - Louise Michel said this herself. She was sentenced to be sent to New Caladonia, and returned to France a good many years later. Having seen state terrorism up close, she became an anarchist, and later led the first May Day marches in France. The participation of women in the Paris Commune would remain in the collective memory of the French left.
...
An exact "body count" is not possible, as bodies were covered with lime, tossed into the river,, or were in burning buildings. The best estimate would be somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000. That’s lots of people, considerably more than the sixty-four (64) hostages who perished at the hands of the Communards.
...
During the summary executions, people were killed for being whom they were, or after "trials" of 10 or 15 seconds before Court Martials at Parc Monceau, Châtelet, or the Jardins de Luxembourg, executed, because they had working-class accents from the plebeian neighborhoods of Paris (especially Montmartre, Belleville, Ménilmontant, Charonne, etc.), or because they were foreigners (particularly Poles, a good many of whom fought for the Commune), or because they had the rough hands of work, or because they called some Versaillais officer "tu," the familiar form, or "citoyen," - citizen.
No comments:
Post a Comment